Paul's First Business Trip

I can now check off one of my lifelong goals: Go to Alaska.

This past week I went on my very first business trip. I have been to work meetings within the state of Washington a number of times, but always returned home that evening. But this time I traveled in an airplane and stayed a night in a hotel. Yep, watch out I've hit the big leagues now.

I traveled to Juneau, AK for a couple days to get acquainted with the project I'll be working on this summer. Thankfully Volcano Redoubt and the falling ash were roughly 650 miles to the Northwest, therefore not affecting travel into Alaska's Southeast area.

Juneau is only accessible via plane or boat, but it is not on an island, just locked in by large mountains and glaciers. For a small city though I was surprised to see all that was there, i.e. Home Depot, Costco, Fred Meyer, Safeway, and others. (Walmart was there too, but since I am VERY anti-Walmart and refuse to spend any money there, I will not mention it other than this noting.)

Below is a picture of Glacier Valley Elementary School. This is where I will be all summer. Dawson Construction is completing the second phase of renovations to the school this summer. Most of my time on this trip was spent at the elementary school taking measurements and visiting with other construction professionals.
It was snowing and raining when I arrived. A little surprising to me, for some reason, there was a lot of snow in Juneau. I understand it is ALASKA, but almost the entire city sits at roughly 50 feet, +/- 30 feet above sea level. The locals told me there had been twice as much snow sitting on the ground earlier in the winter.

Juneau is home to a very large glacier, Mendenhall Glacier. My pictures below do not even come close to doing this large mass of ice justice. I am still in awe over how ginormous this thing was, and is. Maybe I should pay better respect to the glacier and rephase the first sentence of this paragraph to say: Mendenhall Glacier is home to Alaska's Capitol City, Juneau.

I am told there are a lot of bears in Juneau, AK. I guess this is probably true when I didn't see any deer crossing signs because the bears ate them, and the bear crossing signs had to be put up instead. (Or maybe there are just lots of bears.)


While at the elementary school I couldn't help but notice the children's art work. They were very creative and I most enjoyed the local Native Amercian/Regional spirit which shown through.

Totem Poles.

Alaskan Animals: Killer Whales, Grizzley Bears, Salmon, King Crab, Bald Eagles,...

A picture I took from inside the airplane as I was leaving. Notice Mendenhall Glacier in the center background. That thing is MASSIVE!

The trip was very enjoyable and I am excited to have Vicky and the boys with me in Juneau this summer. One of the major perks to working away from home is Dawson Construction will be paying all our living expenses. And although I will be pretty busy, any of you are more than welcome to come visit us and we'll even let you stay with us.


While waiting for my flight back to Bellingham, at the SeaTac Airport, I took this picture for Benjamin. And as expected, he loved it, and wants to fly on it. Kids are so great! I think I want to fly on it too!